KPMG report finds gender bias and pay gap increasing in Australia

Camera IconA new report has found that the gender pay gap is increasing in Australia.

The gender pay gap in Australia remains “stubbornly high” as women experience increasing discrimination in the workplace while also shouldering most household and childcare duties.

A report out today by KPMG, prepared for the Diversity Council Australia and Workplace Gender Equality Agency, highlights the factors behind the gender pay gap, which sits at 14 per cent and has men earning $240 a week more than women.

The report found gender discrimination was the biggest factor contributing to the pay gap and this trend was “disturbingly” on the increase.

It was closely followed by the combined impact of women’s unpaid work at home, part-time employment and time spent away from the workforce because of having children.

The report found “stubborn gender stereotypes” about the roles men and women play in paid work and care still shape the working lives of Australians.

Diversity Council Australia chief executive Lisa Annese said though many employers were working to close the gap, structural inequalities and rigid gender-norms reduced Australia’s capacity for pay equality.

“We need to challenge ideas that the vast majority of caring responsibilities and housework should fall to women,” she said.

WGEA director Libby Lyons said it was not simply up to employers to enact change.

“We must also change the outlook, the hearts and minds of all Australians.”

Potential solutions in the report included more pay transparency and gender pay gap reporting, more flexible work options and childcare availability and cost and increasing the share of women in leadership through quotas or targets.